


Carson - College Days Collection

by writehard_whumpharder



Category: Original Work
Genre: Anxiety, Caffeine Overdose, Caretaking, Carried, Carson Hall - Freeform, Carson series, Character Development, Daniel Hopkins - Freeform, Daniel whump, Dizziness, Hurt/Comfort, Hypoglycemia, Low Blood Sugar, Magic, Magical Exhaustion, Weakness, Whump, asleep, carson being awkward, carson being suspicious, college days, exhuastion, magical healing, manhandled, passed out, tired, will add more tags later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:43:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27634949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writehard_whumpharder/pseuds/writehard_whumpharder
Summary: This is going to be a collection of short stories I've written about Carson when he was in college, they take place not long after he met Daniel. Also note that these don't happen in any particular order.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

This is the title page, stories start at chapter 2.

Other works posted including "Carson vs. Vertigo" and "Carson series - Magical Healing & Fainting" also belong in this collection but I don't want to post them twice.


	2. Carson - Socially awkward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carson not knowing how to talk to people, with a side of magic of course.

So something I don't talk about nearly enough that is important to Carson's character is the dramatic change that happened when he went to college. In high school he avoided people, people avoided him, he doesn't make eye contact as much as normal people, but at the same time he didn't try to hide who he was and gave zero fucks.

Now when he goes to college he's in a completely different environment but still brought with him his terrible set of social skills. Now it's only him avoiding eye contact while other people are trying to engage with him. And because he's trying to keep his magic a secret he lost that carefree attitude and is shy and awkward. He's also a bit confrontational and rude. He made a lot of progress acting like a semi-normal person in his first 4 years of college. He even lived in a house with other college students for a bit (which he hated). 

It wasn't until he met Daniel that he started making an actual effort to socialize and connect with people. Daniel is pretty extroverted and pushed him to open up which led to some conflicts between them. Daniel sensed there was something there though under all the defensiveness and stayed persistent.

\---

Carson was walking across campus when he heard someone call out to him. At first he assumed it must be a different Carson but as it got closer he was certain it was Daniel's voice. He groaned internally and sped up his pace but Daniel was just too damn athletic and caught up with him easily given his height and bigger strides. Carson would have had to break into a sprint to get away from him which he considered but knew wasn't really an option.

"Hey, Carson," Daniel said a little out of breath. "Didn't you hear me calling you?"

Carson looked at the ground as leaves blew across the sidewalk. He stepped on one, earning a satisfying crunch. "Yeah," he didn't think to lie.

"And you just ignored me?" He leaned forward trying to get Carson to look at him. To his frustration, Carson simply redirected his attention to a random point in the sky. "And you really weren't going to stop?"

"No."

"Are you late to a class?"

"No."

Daniel stopped suddenly, "So what the fuck is your problem then?" He gave him chance after chance to explain himself.

"I don't have a problem. Do _you_ have a problem?" He finally stopped and stared up at him angrily.

"Wow, someone's cranky today," he laughed.

Carson clenched his fists, "What did you say?"

Daniel could tell that he had struck yet another nerve of Carson's but he'd be lying if he said he didn't find Carson's grumpy face oddly cute. "I said you're cranky, probably in need of a cup of coffee too." Carson grit his teeth when Danny didn't change his answer but he kept walking anyway. "Speaking of coffee, we should go get some. It's not like you have to be anywhere."

For the life of him, Carson just could not understand why he hadn't given up yet. No one has ever shown this much interest in him. "Can you just stop?" He said.

"Hmmm, it's a little late for that since I already know this whole thing is an act." Daniel challenged.

"What whole thing?"

"You know, the whole closed off, moody thing you've got going."

"You think you know me huh? Well, I'm not acting. This is who I am and I really do want you to leave me alone." Carson said bitterly. They rounded the corner of the building onto a wider path with more people. Carson happened to see it first, the electronic scooter speeding toward them. He was only 120% sure that you aren't supposed to drive things like that campus for this exact reason. Daniel opened his mouth to say something annoying, not looking up until Carson threw an arm out in front of him as the scooter passed. He walked into Carson's arm and stepped back as if he'd just hit a brick wall. The speed of the scooter stirred up a pile of leaves and sent them swirling around on the sidewalk.

"What the hell was that?" He asked, not sure what had just passed in front of him, why Carson was holding him back protectively, or better yet why the hell was his arm so strong? "Um, you can stop now." Carson looked down to see he still had his arm out in front of him. He let it drop to his side and started walking again as if nothing happened. "So you were saying something about wanting me to leave you alone?" Daniel said smugly as his actions told a different story.

"Don't get any ideas, I still don't like you," Carson clarified.

"Sure, sure," he said sarcastically. "You're stronger than you look you know."

"I know," he said, offering no explanation. It wasn't strength though, it was reflexive magic.

  
  



	3. Carson doing suspicious things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just one of the many times he has accidentally revealed his magic in front of Daniel.

Carson hung around the student center, refusing to admit that he was at all associated with the boy who just happened to be hanging around the same area as him. He walked around the shelves of the bookstore as Daniel talked to a guy at the register trying to sort out something with his textbooks. Some school merch caught his eye as he walked past. He already had a couple of sweatshirts but this one was slightly different from the others and he couldn't help but notice that there was a 2X size one in the back, perfect.

He held up the sweatshirt in front of him and looked in the mirror. The sleeves would be way too long and the shoulders were much wider than he needed but since his goal was indeed to drown himself in it, it was perfect.

"Uh, you coming?" Daniel asked after sorting out his textbooks. He honestly wasn't sure since they really hadn't gone there together but it seemed weird to just leave without saying anything else.

"I'm buying this," he told him and weaved through the racks to get to the counter. 

"Do I need to state the obvious?" Danny asked.

"I know what I'm doing."

They walked out of the store each holding bags although Daniel's was much heavier. Seeing that it was getting dark outside, he reached into his back pocket to grab his phone to check the time. Panic welled up in him when he realized it wasn't there. He frantically checked the other side as Carson gave him a funny look for feeling himself up outside the bookstore.

"Uhhh..."

Carson raised an eyebrow.

"I think I might have... left my phone charging in the classroom..." he whispered shamefully.

"Well that was dumb of you," Carson replied. Guess you'll have to wait and get it tomorrow."

"Or... hear me out, you let me use your phone to call campus security," Daniel suggested. He reached out hopefully but Carson took a step backward. He never let anyone touch his phone  _ ever  _ and Daniel must have known that. "Or you could call, doesn't make a difference to me."

Carson grimaced and held his possessions close to his body protectively, "No."

"No to which one?"

"Both."

Daniel sighed and dropped his bag of books on the ground in defeat, "Come on man don't do this to me."

"I haven't done anything to you," he argued. It was his own fault for forgetting it. 

They were interrupted when the guy who rang them up exited the store, locking it up behind him. "Have a nice night," he told them.

It didn't occur to Daniel to ask to use his phone until he was a good 20 feet away and by then it was a lost cause. "You're really not going to help me?"

"I said I wasn't going to call anyone, not that I can't get your phone." Carson corrected. Daniel furrowed his brows, not entirely sure about what he was suggesting.

"It'll look more suspicious if we wait until it's completely dark outside to go get it so we should go now." He said then took off towards the door, making Daniel scramble to catch up with him.

"What is your plan here exactly?" He asked.

"Don't worry about it."

A cold rush of air assaulted them as they stepped out the double doors and Carson shivered. "Ugh I can't believe you're making me do this, it's freezing cold out here."

"It's like 50⁰, relax," Daniel told him. Carson made him stop so he could put on the sweatshirt he just bought which, as expected, was comically large on him. In interest of getting his phone, back preferably before tomorrow morning, Daniel didn't laugh.

The moment of truth came when they reached the entrance to the English and Liberal Arts building. As he's grown accustomed to doing, Carson took his student ID out and pretended to swipe it as he forced the door open with magic. Moving objects wasn't his strong suit but he'd had enough practice picking locks to be able to move the pistons easily. It clicked open.

"Do you have some kind of master key?" Daniel asked.

"Something like that."

"Really though what do you have to do to get access like that? Wait, are you a staff member?" He wondered.

Carson looked at him like he was stupid, "Yes, I'm the Dean of Science," he said sarcastically. "Stop asking me questions."

They really had the school locked down tight at night. Even the stairwell was locked. He pulled on the door and rolled his eyes as he had to go through his act again, and again when they reached the second floor. Finally, they got to the classroom. Daniel peered in the small window in the door. "I see it! It's still in there."

"Well I should hope so, we came this far," he sighed and opened the door only to freeze in his tracks as he realized he hadn't "scanned" his ID. The small slip up didn't get past Daniel.

"Oh would you look at that, it wasn't even locked," Carson said as he walked in. Daniel followed him albeit a bit more slowly. He looked at him like he was some kind of puzzle he wanted to solve.

"I saw the lock though, the little light in the corner was red."

"Maybe you're colorblind," he suggested.

"Damn it, Carson, I'm not colorblind!"

"Good for you. Now grab your phone so we can leave. It's after 9pm," Carson groaned. 

"Past your bedtime is it?" Daniel teased.

"Yes."

"So uh, how did you do that?" He asked.

"Do what?" He feigned ignorance.

"Open the door."

"Oh, that? I turned the handle. How do you do it?" 

"I know that's not it. You did something," he said with suspicion.

Carson started heading for the door again, committed to his plan of not admitting to anything. Daniel followed of course with his phone and charger in hand. He wanted to ask more. Carson could sense the question poised on his lips but he bit it back, realizing he was getting nowhere. Most people, while they know that magic exists, can't imagine what it might be used for other than breaking things and starting fires. That's what the media does, it gives people the image of fireworks and explosions, not basic lockpicking. And better yet, they knew nothing of his particular set of skills. Daniel could tell something was off, but he wasn't sure what.


	4. Ketchup - Carson gets low blood sugar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carson forgets to eat and starts feeling weak as he leaves class with Daniel. When he realizes it's hypoglycemia he eats the first thing he sees -- a ketchup packet.

A small white pebble bounced off the toe of his shoe as he walked. Carson had a bad habit of looking down, messing around with the little rocks on the sidewalk. Lit class just finished so naturally Daniel left the room at the same time as him, in the same direction, and oops now they're walking together. Carson pretended not to notice as Danny fell into step beside him. 

"So, you heading home?" He asked.

Carson nodded, "you have another class right?"

"Yeah, ab psych." Daniel added.

"That's funny 'cause I could have sworn psych classes were held in that building," Carson pointed vaguely behind him without looking, knowing that this is the exact opposite direction he should be heading.

"Well, I'm going to the student center for some lunch first, of course. Hey, you should get some lunch too," he said.

"I'll have some when I get home."

They walked a little further in silence, the sound of the wind whistling between the trees filled that space comfortably. Eyes still on the ground, Carson started to walk a little slower. He was beginning to feel a little off, hungry maybe. Now that he thought about it Carson couldn't remember what he'd had for breakfast that morning. With Chinese leftovers in the fridge, he was sure he had at least a few bites, that was enough right? Wrong. As usual Carson's body went from "slightly hungry" to "hypoglycemic" in less than a minute. He sighed loudly, starting to drag his feet a little as he endured the dizziness. 

At first, Daniel matched his pace easily but now he had to consciously slow down. "Something wrong?"

"No." Carson said, offering no further explanation. He knew nothing bad would actually happen, he's never passed out from low blood sugar before, but it sure did make him lethargic. Carson grabbed onto his backpack straps as he stumbled forward a bit. 

"Aren't you going home?" He asked as they approached the doors to the student center.

"What?" Carson asked dazedly.

"I thought you were going home." He repeated.

"Nah, I think I'll just my grab something here to eat first," he said, trying to sound casual. To be honest, Carson was ready to eat the first thing he could find, even if it was just a packet of sugar next to the coffee machine. 

They entered the building on the first floor where all the restaurants were and Carson's eyes locked on a cup of ketchup packets at the station next to the burger place.  _ Don't do it. Don't you dare do it, Carson.  _ He fought with himself. As they passed by it he just couldn't help himself. Tearing open a packet he squeezed the ketchup into his mouth, savoring the sweet and vinegary taste. Daniel stopped still and watched with utter confusion.

"What did you just do?" He asked.

"Nothing." Carson replied, hiding the empty packet in his fist.

"No, you just swallowed a whole packet of plain ketchup."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Carson feigned ignorance. He was the kind of person who didn't care how obvious something was, if he denied it, it didn't happen.

Daniel opened his mouth to say something else but closed it again, instead shaking his head with disapproval. "Just go sit down before you fall down. I'll buy."

"No meat," Carson mumbled as he wandered away to find a table.

When Daniel had finished getting the food, two personal-sized cheese pizzas, he went to go find Carson. As usual, the place was packed so it wasn't easy weaving between tables with two boxes in his hand. When he did spot him he realized why it took so long. Carson was sitting sideways on a chair hunched over in a lazy "head between your knees" position. Daniel dropped the boxes with a loud thud to get Carson's attention. 

"I got the only thing I could guarantee you'd like. And if you don't I simply can't be friends with you because it is a serious character flaw not to like pizza," Daniel said, taking the other empty seat.

_ Friend?? _ Carson straightened up slowly and carefully. "Pizza's okay." He said. 

"Just okay?"

"It'll be better in a few minutes," he added. He took exactly three bites then stopped which might seem strange for a person who is starving. But when it got this bad, any food made Carson want to puke. Thus he'd get enough into his system to feel better then devour it. "No ranch?"

Daniel smirked, "Are you sure you don't want ketchup?"

Carson deadpanned to show him just how unamused he was at the joke. If they were closer maybe he'd laugh, but not now. He finished the slice he had started while staring out the window.

"Oh look who it is!" A girl called out. Ava, Carson recognized the voice immediately. In the time it took him to turn away from the window she had already started dragging a chair from a nearby table over to them.  _ Kill me now. _

"Hey, Ava," Daniel smiled. "We were just having some lunch, where are you headed?" 

"Oh I have another class in a few minutes so I can't stay but that pizza is making me soooooo hungry. I'm jealous." She said, resting her head in her hand.

Carson wordlessly broke off a piece of his and slid it in her direction but Daniel quickly blocked his hand. "Un uh, you eat that," Daniel ordered. "Here you can have a piece of mine it's the same."

Ava graciously took the slice offered to her, "Danny's probably right. You should keep it." She shrugged.

"If I wanted to be nagged about food I'd go visit my mom."

Ava burst into laughter. It wasn't even a joke, at least Carson didn't mean it that way. He was being genuinely bitter, but she laughed anyway. Carson knew she was anything but an airhead, she just had one of those personalities. Like a ray of sunshine that was more likely to organize a 5k charity run than join a sorority.

"Hey, how old are you two anyway?" She asked curiously.

"Almost 22."

"21," Daniel added.

"So you must be close to graduating then huh."

"Well, I already got my bachelor’s degree in human biology if that's what you mean. Now I'm working on literature." Carson said.

"Wait really? I'm just now getting my degree in literature so I can take over my family's book store. When the hell did you get a biology degree?"

"In the last four years." Carson said seriously. Ava laughed again, interpreting it as joking sarcasm.

"Oh shit, I have to run. Thanks for the pizza, bye!" She said, taking the half-eaten slice with her.

"Wow, when she said run she meant it." Daniel commented. They watched as he bolted for the door, weaving between students expertly. Daniel looked down at his empty box and was about to get up when he noticed Carson was still pecking at his final slice.

"So uh... kind of a weird favor to ask but do you think you could maybe feed my cat? Since you're going back to the apartment building anyway." 

"Yeah I guess," he replied. Some small voice in his head whined about the extra work but really, it was nothing. He could do this one small favor.

"Ok I gotta go to class now, I'll give you the key..." he said, rummaging around in his pockets.

"I don't need a key," Carson said thoughtlessly. To be honest he had an easier time opening a door with magic than he did fucking around with those little scraps of metal. He avoided using the key to his own apartment as much as possible. 

"Um okay, are you going to break into my apartment..?" Daniel asked, an apprehensive look on his face.

Carson finished off the last of his pizza and stood up. "I won't break anything."


	5. The job (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carson gets an important call from his mom while in class, he needs to go do a "job", healing someone of what is usually a life-threatening injury for money, although this time it's family. Doing a job like this in the middle of the semester will be hard on him but he has no choice.

His mom only called during class when it was an emergency. It had been that way since elementary school and even now that he's fully grown and in college, she still memorized his schedule. So that's why he didn't hesitate to pick up during the middle of his professor's lecture despite the agitated stares from his classmates.

"Hello?" He whispered.

"Excuse me, who is talking on the phone right now?" The professor asked the crowd.

He didn't bother to stop to explain himself and instead threw all his things into his backpack as quickly as possible before running out the back door.

"I need you to do a job. I know you're busy with school but it's an emergency." His mom explained. Her voice trembled slightly, it worried him.

"Yeah I figured, do I need to come now or can they hold on for a while?" Carson asked. He jogged down the stairs ready to run to the curb and hail a taxi. Normally he'd want the who and what first but time was of the essence here. Those questions could be answered on the trip there.

In his haste to leave class Carson didn't even notice Daniel get up behind him. Curious as ever he was willing to ditch class to follow and try to listen to whatever frantic phone call he was having. Though he wouldn't admit it, Daniel was also worried about him and couldn't sit through class wondering what happened. He followed a few steps behind so as not to be obvious. 

"I'm not sure about the state she's in, she's at risk of a brain aneurysm like this so could be days or even minutes." She said.

"So long as they're not dead when I get there it'll be fine." Carson assured her. She knew what he was capable of but it pained her to ask so much of him. Diana decided it would be best to wait to tell him it was one of his only cousins in such bad condition. They were the closest Carson had to siblings growing up.

Meanwhile, Daniel reeled in horror at the one-sided conversation. Someone was dead? Or dying? What the hell?

"Traumatic brain injury, I can reverse the damage completely so don't worry about that." He said into the phone. 

He could reverse the damage? Just who the hell is this guy, Daniel thought to himself.

"It's okay I can miss a couple of weeks of school or just do the semester over again it's not important." Carson stammered. He was getting out of breath from all this running. "You said it was a job, how much are they offering?"

There was an awkward silence from the other end of the phone. "Well, they're prepared to pay up to $5,000 depending." The way she said it put Carson on edge. The whole thing felt weird.

"$5,000 isn't very much for this kind of job, the last client paid 40, remember?" 

Daniel still followed as closely as he could without being spotted. He was starting to wonder if Carson was some kind of gangster, what could he possibly be doing to charge $40,000, that's like... drug money. Oh god.

"Carson, it's family." Diana said finally, growing quiet. 

He stopped running so suddenly that he skidded forward and face-planted into the light dusting of snow on the ground, removing a few layers of skin from his hands in the process. The cold only made it sting worse.

"What was that?" She asked.

"Nothing I just tripped. You could have led with that you know." He said as he got back onto his feet, brushing the snow off his phone with the sleeve of his jacket.

"I didn't want to worry you," she said sadly. 

"Yeah, well, I'm worried," he snapped. Not out of anger but out of desperation.

"Don't be sweetheart I'm sure she'll be fine until you get here and I know you can handle this, I believe in you," she said softly. "Where are you now?"

"Getting a cab, I'm on my way." When he did make it to the main road outside of campus traffic was pretty bad but luckily a free cab stopped right away, giving Daniel time to catch up.

"Wait a second," he said breathlessly.

"Why did you follow me," he glared, talking through clenched teeth.

"It seemed... uh," he wasn't quite sure how to explain himself. 

"Go back to class Danny," Carson said harshly.

With that he ducked into the back of the cab and slammed the door shut, leaving Daniel to gape after him.


	6. The job (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carson attempts to go to class after doing a difficult job of magical healing and he just can't seem to stay awake...

Normally Carson wouldn't do such an exhaustive feat of magic during the middle of the semester but sometimes life had other plans. With the other jobs he did, he got to choose who and when, seeking them out himself, so rushing upstate to do the magical equivalent of brain surgery on his cousin was throwing him off a little.

Carson couldn't remember what happened after healing her, his mom had to reassure him that he'd done a good job and simply passed out afterward from the strain. Repairing that kind of damage didn't require a lot of magical energy but it was very precise and time-consuming work. He had to shut off his other senses and focus only on the map forming in his head of the soul in front of him. He had to essentially "zoom in" his focus to a cellular level to be sure he didn't make any mistakes. Because he didn't use much of his own soul in the process it didn't take long for him to get back on his feet, but that didn't mean that he didn't still feel like a dead man walking a whole week later. Carson stayed with his mom for three days, resting the whole time, before taking a taxi back to campus where he promptly went back to sleep. 

On Tuesday when it was time to get up for class, Carson thought long and hard about whether or not he was up for going. His aunt and uncle had offered to pay for tuition if he had to do the semester over again but lying in bed right now he just couldn't justify it. He felt like crap, yes, but once he got to class he could just sit down, it wasn't physically demanding. Besides, it was too late in the semester to turn back, it'd be better to power through. Having made his decision Carson sat up and put his feet on the ground, waiting a minute or so before standing. He'd been through this before, he wouldn't make a rookie mistake like getting up too fast. When it came time to actually get up he kept one hand on the table next to his bed, blinking through the initial wave of dizziness. "You can do this Carson, just take it slow," he told himself. He switched out his pajamas with a matching NYU sweatshirt and sweatpants. Just the thought of showering made him groan internally so he put a beanie on instead and called it good. 

At the pace he was moving there wasn't much time to waste before he had to leave for class but he still grabbed a cliff bar to eat on the way. If his mom were there she would say something about how eating is important to keep up your strength. 

He took one look at his backpack and sagged against the couch. So heavy, so, so heavy. While in the process of dumping everything out of it, someone knocked on his door. "Uh, Carson? Are you coming to class today?" Daniel asked through the door. It was a little awkward now after Carson left the way he did. There was no doubt he had some questions about it. As tempting as it was to just ignore him and crawl back into bed, he decided to make the most of it. Shoving only the essentials back into his bag he carried it to the door and threw it at Daniel.

"Carry this," Carson ordered, sliding his hands into the pocket of his hoodie. Despite still being inside a cold draft seemed to go right through the material, making Carson shiver.

"O-okay. It weighs like 2 lbs can you really not carry this yourself?" He asked in concern. Carson rolled his eyes.

"Why would I when you're here," he deflected. 

Staving off another chill Carson walked out first, leaving Daniel to trail behind like usual. Today though it wasn't hard at all to catch up to him.

"Hey, are you sick or something?" He asked. Carson stopped to glare at him  _ (to catch his breath) _ . "My grandma walks faster than you… and she’s dead.”

"By all means, go ahead. No one said you had to walk with me." Carson motioned for him to pass him.

"If I don't I think you might keel over," he commented.

This time Carson stopped walking entirely and shifted on his heel. He was tired, irritable, impatient, and not about to let him treat him like an invalid. Magician's egos were nothing to take lightly. "Oh, you think so?" Carson asked, his voice positively lethal. Danny actually took a step back and looked at the ground awkwardly.  _ Way to go Carson, you hurt his feelings _ . He scolded himself. In a lot of ways, Daniel was nothing more than a big puppy. Loyal and dangerously curious.  He turned to keep walking but hesitated. Just getting worked up for that short second had sapped away a lot of his energy. Carson bent forward and rested his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. Anyone passing by would think he just ran a few miles with the way he was panting.

He could see Danny in the corner of his eye, looking conflicted as if he was actually afraid to offer help. "I hate to break it to you but at this pace, we won't make it to the building until mid-afternoon tomorrow." Daniel sighed.

"So?"

"So why don't you give up whatever it is you're trying to prove and let me help you." He snapped.

"You're right, I should just go back home, we're only a couple blocks away." Carson said. "Take notes for me, would you?"  It happened so fast. Carson was ready to just breeze past him and walk away but when he got close Daniel quickly switched his backpack around so it was on his front and grabbed Carson's wrist to throw him over his back.  "What the fuck man?! Put me down!" Carson kicked uselessly. 

"You can take your own notes."

Carson continued to fight in his grip. If he really wanted to he could use his magic to win almost any physical challenge but he was so depleted at the moment that he was nothing more than a regular guy. It stung a little bit.  Daniel held onto him with ease. Truthfully he would let him down if he thought the piggyback ride was really bothering him but he could tell that it wasn't. It didn't take long for Carson to grow tired of struggling. He let his head drop onto Daniel's right shoulder and closed his eyes. As much as he hated to admit it, Daniel was right. He'd never make it to class on his own so he might as well make the most of it.  Meanwhile, Daniel smiled smugly and kept on toward their class. He could feel Carson slowly relaxing in his grip, probably already falling asleep. Despite the extra work of carrying someone, Daniel got the two of them to the building on time for class.

"Carson, wake up," he said softly.

"Huh? I'm awake," he replied, sounding groggy and not at all convincing. Daniel knew that Carson would want to walk the rest of the way himself to preserve his dignity. Seeing that they were already at the language arts building on campus, Carson quickly slipped off back onto his own two feet, wobbling a little as he did.  Carson was still unbearably tired but he made it the rest of the way to the lecture hall. Daniel made note of all the germs he must have just touched gripping the handrails and walls for dear life. How he was going to stay awake for any portion of this class was a total mystery to him. Daniel hovered close to his elbow until he sat down as if afraid Carson fall down.

Ava turned around in her seat in the row in front of them. "Woah, what's your problem?" 

Carson blinked slowly, "I'm tired."

"Well no shit," she replied then glanced over at Daniel.

"Don't look at me. He's being super shady about it."

Carson stared blankly at both of them, willing them to just shut up. Once the professor made his way up to the front of the room they did and Carson was able to rest his head on the table in peace. His intentions were good, really, he expected to make it at least 20 minutes into class. But he nodded off not 5 minutes into the lecture.  Despite what he said Daniel did take notes diligently that Carson could copy later on. He made little notes about info that didn't come from the textbook and any upcoming due dates. Every once in a while he'd steal a glance at his deskmate only to find that Carson hadn't moved at all. Not even a centimeter. He had his head resting on his right arm and he faced toward him so Daniel had the perfect view of his sleepy, adorable face.  An hour and 45 minutes later, class ended. There was no bell but the sound of every student in the room packing up to leave should have been able to wake up anyone. Not Carson though, he was still out cold, dead to the world. Daniel kind of expected this to happen. 

"Wake up, time to go," Daniel said, slapping at his face not at all gently. "Get up, class is over."

"Geez, he's really out isn't he?" Ava asked as she put on her jacket.

"Yeah... it's weird isn't it?" He asked, "I can't be the only one thinking it." 

"Oh for sure. I have an idea though," Ava said, giving him a mischievous smile. She pulled a fresh water bottle out of her backpack and unscrewed the cap.

"No, come on. It'll make a mess."

"Just a little. It's better than leaving him here," Ava insisted. What she didn't know though was that now that he and Carson were neighbors he was somewhat obligated to take him home with him. Daniel cringed a little as she leaned over and poured a small, controlled stream of water onto his face. They were both confident that unless he was dead, the water would elicit some kind of reaction from him, even if it was just to wipe off his face. But to their surprise, he did absolutely nothing. Daniel's brows furrowed in concern. He lifted Carson's wrist off the table to feel his pulse. It was normal and steady... so why wouldn't he wake up?

"Shit, it's going to get dark outside before I make it home. Fucking winter. It must be cold too," he looked down at Carson and his thin sweatshirt. "You can head home. I'll take care of this."

"Are you sure you can do it on your own?" 

"If I can get him to class, I can take him home too." He said confidently.

Ava felt a little awkward just leaving like this but seeing as it was getting late she wished him luck and took off.

Danny sighed while looking down at Carson. Now that the room was empty he felt a little more comfortable manhandling him into a carriable position. First, he slipped off his coat and sat Carson up. Head lolling forward against his chest, Carson was nothing more than a limp ragdoll. It took some work but he managed to feed his arms through the sleeves and put his backpack on as well. Then he bent over to get Carson onto his back so he could carry him home. It was doable, but not easy. Daniel wondered just how many favors Carson owed him at this point, he'd lost track. It wasn't lost on him that their relationship was completely one-sided but he could already tell his efforts were paying off. A few students gave him odd looks as he carried Carson across campus back to their apartment building. They probably assumed he was just drunk as was usually the case in situations like this. 

It wasn't until he tried to open Carson's door that he realized he didn't have a key, and to his dismay, Carson didn't appear to have one either. After propping Carson up on the stairwell, Daniel went all the way up to the third floor to knock on his landlord's door. Luckily, while Frank wasn't there, Margaret was and she would have access to spare keys to everyone's apartments.

"Hi, sorry to bother you but I need to get into Carson's apartment. Do you have a key I could borrow?" He asked.

Margaret sighed, "Why do you need to get in? Is he not answering the door?" She asked.

"Oh, that's not it. I actually need it opened so that I can get him inside." Daniel explained.

She looked at him skeptically but ultimately gave in and handed over a key. "Bring it back when you're done with it." Before she shut the door he heard her mutter, "that kid's just like his father."

The next morning Carson would wake up in his bed with no memory of how he got there. It might have been the first time, but it certainly wouldn’t be the last time something like that happened.


	7. Caffeine Overdose - Daniel whump

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While working on the group project Daniel overdoes it with the caffeine and suffers the consequences.

As the final due date for the project was fast approaching, the group naturally paired off to work more efficiently. That's how the girls ended up working on one side of the library with Daniel and Carson working in a quiet area on the other side. Tensions were rising but Carson remained perfectly calm, he was almost done with his part anyway. But when they met up that day Carson sensed immediately that there was something off about his partner. Scanning the library he noticed that it was unusually busy and most students had the same tired look Danny did. It seemed everyone was suffering from the same illness - midterms. Unlike everyone else in the group he already had a bachelor's degree and was taking this class more out of personal interest than anything else. 

"Hey Danny," Carson said, leaning back in his chair. Daniel's fingers typed furiously as his eyes darted back and forth across the laptop screen. No response. "Yo, Danny," he said again.

His partner seemed to be in his own little world. A tiny little world made of stress. It was sad to watch really. Carson sighed and looked back down at his own work. It wasn't perfect but he made up for any sophistication his writing might be lacking with extra research. The background keyboard clicking suddenly stopped, leaving a buzzing in Carson's ear where the sound previously was. He was already cringing knowing that the sudden stop most likely meant that Daniel's brain was shutting down. One look confirmed his suspicions. But he noticed a hint of discomfort in his otherwise blank face.

"Hey Danny," Carson repeated. 

"What?" He kept staring straight ahead like the answering machine in his head had picked up because Daniel wasn't home right now.

"You're shaking," he commented. Not just in his fingers either, his whole body was starting to tremble ever so slightly along with the incessant bouncing of his knee.

"Oh uh, I guess I'm a little stressed," he said, finally coming back to his senses. Daniel looked down at himself to see that Carson was telling the truth, he was shaking rather obviously. 

"Right it definitely doesn't have anything to do with the lethal amount of caffeine you consumed," Carson said sarcastically.

"How did you know?" 

"Please, I'm a professional. And you... are a total amateur," he teased. 

"Whatever I just need to get this done so we can finish this stupid group project so I can study for my other mid-terms," he said, probably not realizing how fast he was talking. "Four tests, two papers, I still need to do the reading..." he rambled to himself. Carson watched him carefully. As if remembering everything he still needed to triggered some kind of instinct, his hand went down to his bag to grab, you guessed it, another redbull. 

"Oh thanks that's my favorite flavor," Carson said as he snatched the can out of this hand. Danny's reflexes were so slow and uncoordinated that he barely noticed it happening. 

"Hey I need that," he whisper-yelled, trying to get it back from Carson.

"You need sleep, or at the very least, a break from caffeine." Carson dropped the can into his own bag and swatted away Daniel's hand. "Great it's been five minutes and I haven't gotten anything done because of you. Do us both a favor and just slow down, focus on one assignment at a time." He said firmly.

His partner seemed to think about that, slumping further into his chair in defeat. "You owe me $3 for that." Carson rolled his eyes and dug a few crinkled dollar bills out of his pocket.

This was going to be a long day. While Danny might seem okay now, he knew from personal experience that it was about to get worse. He also cheated a little by reading his energy when their hands briefly made contact to exchange the money. Caffeine, like all drugs, takes a little time to kick in and reach its peak. When that happened Daniel would experience an increased heart rate, sweating, feelings of anxiety, heart palpitations if it got bad enough, dizziness, maybe even nausea. And if he wasn't drinking extra water to compensate he'd get dehydrated making those symptoms worse.

Oh well, he put himself in this situation, not much he could do.  _ Except heal him completely _ , but that would be suspicious right? The best thing to do would be to finish the project so everyone can focus on their other classes. "Well, I looked over my part like ten times and I think it's done. What about you, are you close?" Carson asked casually.

Daniel shot him an anxious look and tilted his laptop screen away, "almost finished, but not quite, it needs some revising..." 

"Okay well I'll revise it then," Carson said, motioning for him to pass him the laptop. Daniel only gripped it more tightly though, embarrassed about his writing. "I don't care what kind of stroke you just had on that page, I'll be able to translate it."

As much as he hated to admit it, Carson was good at this, he had the broke-ass, stressful college student life down. "Alright, just don't judge it," he said apprehensively, allowing Carson to take the laptop out of his hands. He immediately went to work fixing the obvious spelling errors first. 

Daniel waited all of two seconds before reaching into his bag to pull out a book to study. Carson swatted it onto the floor without taking his eyes off the screen, "Don't even think about it. You're taking a mandatory break until I'm done with this." He looked like he wanted to argue but as a wave of dizziness waved over him Daniel forgot all about it. He sank farther into the seat, letting his head fall against the back. Closing his eyes, he willed the uncomfortable feeling to go away. But it didn't, if anything it got worse. His heart started to pound harder in his chest and he couldn't help but place a hand there, gripping at his sweatshirt as he tried to breathe through it. Daniel had never had so much caffeine before so it caught him completely by surprise.

"Carson?" He asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"I feel kinda weird," he admitted.

Carson rolled his eyes but deep down it bothered him to watch him suffer like this. "That's because you're overdosing on caffeine. It sucks but it'll pass."

Daniel processed his words slowly, "how do I make it stop?" he asked desperately. Realistically, he couldn't. Magically, well that was another story. If Carson wanted to he could encourage the extra caffeine in his system to bypass the receptors and then deal with the symptoms by slowing down his heart rate and just sending a little life energy through him to calm him down. Even in this state though Daniel would notice something odd happening if he suddenly started doing magic on him. Carson also had to remind himself that he wasn't in any danger so it would be a waste of energy to spend it on a superficial problem like this. 

After he finished editing the paper Carson put the laptop down and gave Daniel his full attention. His partner was gripping the armrests of his chair and staring up at the ceiling with a grimace as if afraid that the chair might start spinning at any moment. Or maybe it was already spinning. "Danny, you okay?" Carson asked.

He just groaned in response. Upon further inspection, Carson also noticed a bead of sweat forming at his hairline. His skin looked pale and clammy. It was really starting to bother him how little he could do.

"Hey, what if I get us a private study room so you can chill for a bit before getting back to work, eh?" He suggested.

Daniel immediately shook his head at the thought of moving, but as his anxiety intensified, getting somewhere away from people actually sounded pretty good. "O-okay."

Carson gathered up both their belongings then tugged Daniel to his feet. He was shaky at first but allowed Carson to guide him forward. They walked towards the study rooms, which were all, unsurprisingly, occupied. But then Carson had another idea. The conference rooms weren't open to students but they'd definitely be empty right now. 

"Just a little farther." He told him. Following the inner edge of the library they finally got to the bigger rooms designated for talks and public seminars. On the off chance that Daniel was paying attention he got his ID out again and held it up to the scanner next to the first room he came across then unlocked it with his magic.

There were about 20 rows of seats filling the large room, then at the back he spotted two long benches. Perfect. Carson continued to drag Daniel along and deposited him on one of them.

"There, now you can take a little nap then get back to work," Carson sighed, satisfied with his solution. Taking advantage of the full bench, Daniel laid down on his side, using his sweatshirt as a pillow. While he knew he'd be absolutely fine, the pounding in his chest made him feel like he was having an anxiety attack anyway. The urge to sleep and the urge to get up and start pacing battled with each other. On one hand, he was full of energy, but on the other, he was absolutely exhausted.

"So is that better?" Carson asked.

"A bit," Daniel replied. Once he was settled, Carson sat down on the floor next to the bench and kept working. He saw that instead of having a reference page he had a disorganized mess of links which Carson would have to look at one by one and put them into APA format. Besides that, it was pretty good. Carson was a little impressed actually that while it was riddled with grammatical errors the thoughts were coherent and on topic. He decided to text the girls in their group to let them know they were almost done with their parts of the project. Kelsey replied suggesting that they meet up and look it over. Daniel seemed to be doing a bit better so he went ahead and sent them the room number.

A few minutes later he heard a knock and was glad to see that it was them and not someone coming to tell them to leave.

“What are you doing in the conference room?” Ava asked.

“The study rooms were full.” Carson replied simply. Despite the many tables and chairs available in the room, they chose to sit on the carpet in a small circle near the bench Daniel was laying on.

“What’s wrong with-”

“Shhhh,” Carson shushed her. He whispered, “I just need to finish the reference page but the rest is done, you should look it over, make sure it’s good.”

Ava sipped at her iced coffee, suddenly getting serious. Her eyes squinted and danced back and forth. Kelsey still seemed preoccupied with what was going on with Daniel though. Now that he was asleep he probably wouldn’t be waking up any time soon so he allowed himself to raise his voice a little. “Don’t bother him, he’s crashing.”

“Oof,” Ava said, knowing the feeling.

They discussed who would turn in the project and how they would present it to the class while Daniel slept.


End file.
